


In the name of Candia, I swear.

by the_consequences (yuggie_yuggie)



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Character Study, Episode: c05e06 A Crown of Candy: Chaos in the Cathedral, Introspection, M/M, Pining, Political Alliances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:08:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25915636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuggie_yuggie/pseuds/the_consequences
Summary: In the final moments, as Sir Theobald Gumbar ran through the street of Comida, Ruby slung over his shoulder, yelling at him to turn back, he silently remembered his vows to Candia. He had never wanted more, than in that moment, to be a traitor.
Relationships: Lapin Cadbury/Theobald Gumbar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	In the name of Candia, I swear.

Theobald Gumbar of the Knights of North-Gumbia was made Lord Commander of the Tartguard shortly after the signing of the Concordat, marking the end of the Ravening War and a new era of peace. It was strange, to be so delighted at the face of such tragedy. He was given responsibility beyond what he had before. Theobald fought in the war, for Candia, but now, to be responsible for the House of Rocks itself, felt far more significant than the entirety of their kingdom. No longer was he a man in the shadows, a ward of archmage Lazuli but ultimately just another body in the crowds.

No, he was now Sir Theobald Gumbar, Lord Commander of the Tartguard, and sworn protector of the the capital, of Castle Candy, and of the House of Rocks.

He couldn't help but be uncharacteristically giddy then, despite being a full grown man who had been in the trenches of the Ravening War. He had wade through molten sugar, staining chlorophyll, metallic blood to be where he was, and if that meant he deserved some happiness after such tragedy, then he couldn't find it in himself to disagree.

Theobald would never forget his oath. It was made twenty years prior, and on this day, the eighteenth Saint's Day of the twin princesses Jet and Ruby Rocks, he still found it in himself to recite it as the sun rose in the East, over the battlements. He was younger then, though not so. Almost thirty years of age, and infinite beyond that spent in the battlefields. He didn't fill out his armour quite as well then, lacking the sureness he had now, but he made up for it with fierce purpose.

Theobald Gumbar was a gummy bear man, but a gummy bear man who knew exactly what his path in his life was.

The newly crowned King Amethar Rocks of the time had presented him with his cape, pinning it to his armour by his own hands. Theobald was kneeling then, one knee up, the other down, a hand over his breastplate. The Bulb had shone brightly through the sugar glass windows that day, to signify an occasion of great joy and honour - and what an honour it was, and continued to be.

He reminded himself, on this day, when the princesses would become women grown, of his sworn oath all those years ago.

_I swear, from this day forward, to be loyal above all else to King Amethar of the House of Rocks of Candia, until my last breath fades, and until my king deems my services unnecessary._

_I swear, upon The Bulb above, to protect the peoples of Candia, and the souls of Castle Candy. If it falls, I shall fall with it. If it stands, I will stand proudly brandishing Candia's plum and canary. I will uphold the honour of the knights before, the guards before me, and carry with me the Code of Sugar, carrying out the wishes of the House of Rocks without question._

_I will abide for Candia. I will protect for Candia. I will service for Candia._

_I will bend for Candia._

_I, Sir Theobald Gumbar, swear upon everything that is bright and shiny, everything that is sweet and sugary, that I will be loyal until the end. If I break my promise made here today, in the sacred halls of Castle Candy, with The Bulb as my witness, may the Hungry One devour my soul._

_In the name of Candia, I am your's, my king, until you will have me no more._

The words were never fully his, a mixture of script and his own improvisation, but it was a fond memory. Perhaps the fondest memory he had. Theobald would never forget the words, even as his memory fades and he could no longer remember the colour of his queen's robes that day, or whether his king seemed joyful, but the feeling, the rush of purpose, he would never forget.

Theobald remembered his oath, and as he was polishing the Battlepop under the rising sun, he murmured them to himself as a reminder to why he wore this cape.

He would always make sure he was worthy of it.

* * *

Lapin Cadbury - Chancellor Lapin Cadbury, Primogen of the Bulbian Church on behalf of Candia - had a way of sneaking up to people. He wasn't a particularly small man either, lanky yes, but tall and sinewy with muscle. His foil crinkled as he walked, but never made any noise. Theobald had always thought the Chancellor was a man who hid away, afraid of being noticed but ultimately unable to resist the glory of power.

He was not a man Theobald liked very much, but as a soul under Castle Candy, and a Primogen of the Bulbian Church, Theobald stayed indifferent. That was the best he could do, and it had been enough for almost two decades now.

"Chancellor, do they not have a spell that tells you what time it is?"

The good Chancellor Lapin Cadbury turned slowly from his board, chalk in one paw. A small, unimpressed grin spread on his lips. "Do you want me to rush the education of these princesses?" He looks off in the far distance, pretending to be deep in thought. "Do you want them to be stupid as they go about the world-"

"How dare you?" Theobald growled, deep in his throat. "Give me one reason! Give me one reason-" he trailed off, chest heaving with anger, unable to continue.

Something about Lapin made Theobald lose all sense of carefully practised control, and he was confident enough to say that he thought he was mostly easy-going. On multiple occasions, Theobald had let grievances by the twin princess slide without as much as a light scolding. It was insane to imagine that a dark chocolate bunny could rile him up to this point.

He composed himself. One did not simply threaten a Primogen of the Church, not openly.

Lapin played aloof still, paws in the air in mock surrender. His usually stuffy tone was lighter, teasing, and altogether very amused. "One reason? One reason to what?" 

"To nothing."

"Lay your hands on me?"

Shameful thoughts burned themselves at the back of Theobald's mind, and if he weren't already cherry, he certainly would be now. At the age of fifty, Theobald didn't think of himself as one to succumb to such carnal desires, but forgive him for being celibate for so many years. Love and lust could stem from hate at anytime, and while Theobald never considered the first, the second was quite tempting.

After all, weren't sexual acts a form of power play in the first place?

_Bulb above, forgive me for my impure thoughts._

"Nothing. It's not a threat." His voice was as flat as he could muster it, wishing to end this conversation as soon as possible. Queen Caramelinda would have his head - though he was doubtful that Lapin would request that of her - if she knew he was threatening a member of the Church. It would not do to break such rules of customs in the world of politics, even in careless banter, even if they had done this every day for years now. Lapin held power, even if he never saw fit to weld it openly.

"Oh my goodness-" Lapin started.

"If I didn't say it-" Theobald interrupted.

"-what a large goon you are," Lapin finished with a rake of his body.

Theobald thought his cheeks were going to melt off, due to anger and something else. It would not do to stay here for long, especially with Lapin smirking like that.

Tody cleared his throat from behind him. "My lord, Chancellor, if you were to direct your attention to the, um, _princesses_."

With one last lingering look, Theobald reminded himself of his duties and whipped his head towards the...scarecrows. It seemed the princesses had escaped again, and in his carelessness, he had failed to notice.

What was Lapin doing to him?

Lapin, for the life of him, looked confused, one eyebrow raised. "That's the princesses, what about it?"

"Are you-" Theobald clenched his fists "-they've just been like this? For how long?"

Lapin finally turned to take a look, and the look of shock on his features were quite satisfactory. His ears drooped, and his mouth couldn't seem to close. "I-I assumed they were wrapped in my lecture..."

Theobald had always considered Lapin Cadbury to be a man of great composure, but he had always assumed that about himself as well. At the end of the day, people were often full of contradictions and exceptions. Theobald was sure in himself, but also lenient and 'thirsty for respect' as the princesses had put it; Lapin was reserved and untrustworthy, charismatic and haughty, but never quite _there_ , too far away for anyone to touch.

Theobald couldn't resist stepping closer, until he could see the small age lines right under Lapin's eyes, mirroring his own. "They're made of straw, Chancellor!"

"Well-" he smirked once again, seemingly unbothered by recent developments as he looked Theobald right in the eyes "-who knows how long they've been like that?"

Theobald wanted to do something to him at the moment. Slap him, maybe. Yell some more. Shove him? Perhaps shove him against a wall then-

The esteemed Lord Commander of the Targuard, aged fifty, spun around so fast his cape got caught on his shield, and shoved a head out the window, all out of shame for hateful-lust towards one Chancellor.

_Oh for Bulb's sake, pull yourself together, Theo._

* * *

When Calroy approached everyone with the list of the entourage, Theobald internally cursed.

Of course Lapin would be there.

Said Chancellor smirked, and did one of his strange light touches. Theobald shivered. "Can't get rid of me, huh, Lord Commander?"

Such a title of prestige coming out of Lapin's mouth sounded strange, but Theobald never claimed to not enjoy the meaning behind it. The thirst was quenched temporarily, and he couldn't bring himself to be angry.

"As if I was even thinking about you."

Theobald Gumbar was always a liar it seemed, Lapin just brought it out in him more often. 

"Lord Swirly then?"

"Yes," he said without thinking. "I was thinking of, uh, Swirly."

Lapin's eyes shone like sugar encrusted gumdrops in the Bulblight, so holy yet so michevious. "Of course you were."

* * *

"Chancellor, did you know that dark chocolate melted at 90 degrees?" Theobald teased.

"I'll have you know, it's actually 85 to 89 for milk," Lapin quipped back. 

The Battlepop was spun around around, casting brilliant shadows against the walls of the battlements. "So you've grown sweet, huh?"

"Only for you."

It was a joke, but suddenly, as the sun set over the Great Stone Candy Mountains, it felt much more real.

"How interesting." A small smile.

"Indeed." A returning smirk.

* * *

It wasn't until much, much later that Theobald putting the pieces together.

Here was what he knew: Lapin Cadbury, Primogen of the Bulbian Church, Chancellor, Chaplain of Castle Candy and Candia, tutor of the Princesses Jet and RUby of the House of Rocks, was a man who was afraid.

Theobald could tell. He never claimed to have particularly high levels of insight, more accustomed to the physical sides of war, but being a guard meant having a certain level of detection. Lapin had something to hide under the foils and droning lectures. He was a man of fear, foundations made of salt and false pretenses. Theobald had suspected many things, from secretly planning a coup - Could Chancellors coup? - to being a spy from the Ceresians, but that didn't seem altogether too likely. The Chancellor was not fully Candian, having a small amount of lineage from the Dairy Islands that made him chocolate, but Theobald had a Fructerian ancestor at some point, so it wasn't his place to judge. 

Never had he considered that it would be _this_.

The first time Lapin claimed it to be a miracle of The Bulb, and Theobald believed him. He was just relieved for the safety of his king and his princesses, but then it happened again, and again, and again...?

The Bulb didn't shine with plum light, that he was sure of. It was a familiar purple, one that tasted of sugar and sweetness in the back of throats. It was _arcane_.

Theobald never thought of it as heretical, as did most of Candia. The Sweetening Path was not something many openly proclaimed to worship, the stigma of it beyond the borders well-known, but it wasn't shameful either. Candians protected Candians, and what is practised here stayed here, disguised as alchemy beyond their peppermint forests. Perhaps a commoner who never left Candia could have led their lives in safety, practising whatever they so wished. But it wasn't that simple. It wasn't just magic, or religion.

This was politics.

So to not only lie about one's faith, but to turn their back against the most powerful organisation entirely _was_ heresy. And Theobald supposed that was the difference.

Later, when they had time alone, Theobald would interrogate Lapin and demand for answers, but for now, he felt weary, and with Comida fast approaching on the horizon, he couldn't spare the thoughts.

* * *

"Where's your Bulb now?"

At that moment, Theobald understood Lapin more than he ever had. The haughtiness had always been real, simply in the wrong context for Theobald to admire. No longer was he a Primogen, arrogant and uptight in his status in life, looking down at others because he was blessed. No, Lapin was now Lapin and nothing more, servant of the Sugarplum Fairy, master of a silver tongue, confident and in his element, haughty in the way a criminal never caught stealing was haughty.

Lapin was a man born to topple, and Theobald was in awe. He wanted to kneel before his feet, despite knowing now that he held no true political power.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter at all.

* * *

Only, there wasn't a later. King Amethar had been almost assassinated, and Count Freezyburg was captured by the Pontifex. Then came accusations of infidelity and heretics and now-

Lapin was dying.

Theobald understood exactly what was going to happen the moment Lapin cast Fly on him. 

_You self-sacrificing idiot! That's not your place._ _You below in lecture halls and throne rooms and cathedrals and at the head of masses, freeing them from the constraints of a religion that did not care for them! Lapin, just run. Just run!_

The Battlepop landed blows left and right on the enemy. His shield blocked all the damage it could for the king and the princesses and the count, but Theobald was only one gummy bear. He couldn't be everywhere at once.

They had to get out of here. All of them.

Then Lapin cast fly on him.

Then Lapin threw himself in front of Liam.

"I-I misjudged you, Chancellor," Theobald whispered. The worst feeling he could ever remembered amplified, sinking his stomach. Even the feeling of Lapin's magic, something intimate, wrapping around him, did not alleviate this feeling. But they were in a battle, and thoughts could be left until later.

"Oh, shut up." His eyes glowed indigo, and all at once, his disguise was gone. He made himself, brilliant and full of bravado, in his element.

It seemed Theobald was wrong once again. This was where Lapin belonged.

Then Lapin was bludgeoned across the head, and he fell.

Theobald suddenly knew what he had to do. He grabbed everyone, bringing them to the windows and then eventually, down onto the streets of Comida. He looked back at though the windows, at Lapin, beaten and bloodied by a mace, eyes opening blearily to search that fucking carrot's face.

Theobald wanted to scream. 

_Get up! Get up! Or at the very least, look at me. Just-just look at me..._

"Heretic apostate," said The Pontifex, high and mighty and everything Theobald falsely thought Lapin _was_. "Warlock of the Sugar-Plum Fairy. You mock that which is bright and shiny. Do you have any last words?"

Jet blanched audibly, but Theobald knew Ruby had her. His attention was elsewhere.

Lapin doesn't speak for a moment, and his eyes finally, finally lock with Theobald. 

"The Bulb cares for no one."

_If the Bulb cared at all, it wouldn't have let you die here, Lapin. The Bulb has no mercy, and I don't want your last words to be of it!_

The Pontifex smiled, and turned to the carrot. Theobald knew she didn't care. "End it."

As the mace lifted, Theo found strength in pain, not in sweetness, and not of The fucking Bulb. He scaled the walls, soft paws digging into the brick, and pulled himself back through the windows.

Theo ignored the yells behind him, the deafening roar in his ears not allowing him to, as he threw his body on top of Lapin's.

The mace had already made purchase many times before he got there, but Theo felt warmth. Not the warmth of melting, but the warmth of life. Lapin was breathing, his chest fluttering as erratically as the beats of a butterscotch canary, but the pulse was there.

Theo shielded Lapin was his own body, uncaring of the blows on his back. His armour had protected them, all of them, more than once. It would continue to do so again. His cape, which bore the symbol of Candia, tore, but he didn't care. He held Lapin's body as closely as he could, then finally, when he regained his sense, he cradled Lapin to his chest and ran back for the window.

He hesitated too long. His knees buckled in front of the windows, and a mace landed on the back of his head. Hidden in the crook of his neck, Lapin was still, soft breaths the only sign of life Theo had, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was enough, and soon cherry red candy and milk chocolate became one, splattered as nothing but stains on the floor of the cathedral.

But he wasn't Theo. He was Sir Theobald Gumbar, Lord Commander of the Tartguard, Knight of the North-Gumbia and sworn protector of the the capital, of Castle Candy, and of the House of Rocks.

Theobald caught his king on a reflex, taking the damage meant for his liege, eyes never leaving the still breathing Lapin within the cathedral.

Lapin never looked back, and perhaps that was just as well.

"End it," The Pontifex said again, jaw set tightly. "Rest well, heretic apostate, and may The Bulb show you mercy in the after."

As Sir Keratin's mace landed on its target, Theobald recited his oath.

_I swear, from this day forward-_

Dark, dark chocolate coated the barbed mace. Lapin was no more sweet now than he was in life, though Theobald wished desperately that he would become milk for him just once. Just once.

 _-to be loyal above all else to King Amethar of the House of Rocks of Candia,_ _until my last breath fades, and until my king deems my services unnecessary._

His king stood on his own, yelling at them to run.

Theobald was helpless but to obey.

_I swear, upon The Bulb above, to protect the peoples of Candia, and the souls of Castle Candy._

To swear on The Bulb, but to see the actions in the name of The Bulb now, made Theobald sick to his stomach. Was Lapin not a soul of Castle Candy? Was he not someone under his protection? In what world was Theobald not bound to protect Lapin's life?

But if the witness of his oath no longer stands righteous, if the witness of his oath is the very one contradicting Theobald's very essence, then what place did he have to retaliate?

 _I_ _f it falls, I shall fall with it. If it stands, I will stand proudly brandishing Candia's plum and canary. I will uphold the honour of the knights before, the guards before me, and carry with me the Code of Sugar, carrying out the wishes of the House of Rocks without question._

To stand with honour meant going back in there, and saving Lapin. To carry out the wishes of King Amethar meant running through the streets of Comida like a coward.

But Jet and Ruby were screaming for them to run back for Lapin, and were they not the future of Candia? It does not matter if they were bastards, because they were from the House of Rocks, and Theobald had to obey.

He wanted to obey _them_.

_I will abide for Candia._

But his loyalty was to King Amethar, even if he was no longer entitled to anything. His heart was torn.

_I will protect for Candia._

And running guaranteed a higher chance of the survival of Candia, for their kingdom could not be without rule. They would have to recover, sail back, and try their best to survive another war that was twenty years overdue.

_I will service for Candia._

Theobald hauled Ruby and Liam over his shoulders as his king did the same to Jet. They had no time to stay, or mourn, or even process.

Jet and Ruby were screaming for them to turn back. Liam was sobbing for Preston. Theobald's heart was cold.

They had to run.

_I will bend for Candia._

Lapin's death would not be in vain.

 _I, Sir Theobald Gumbar, swear upon everything that is bright and shiny, everything that is sweet and sugary, that I will be loyal until the end. I_ _f I break my promise made here today, in the sacred halls of Castle Candy, with The Bulb as my witness, may the Hungry One devour my soul._

If there really was a Hungry One, then there lived one in Theobald's chest. It ate away at his heart, and there was indescribable numbness to it all.

Behind them, Lapin's silent scream reached Theobald's ears, as he imaged a dark chocolate bunny teasing him in his classroom, a soft ray of light illuminating his face, full of haughtiness and cleverness and _Lapin_.

Theobald swore to avenge him, and Lapin would never truly be dead, not if he lived in his heart.

_In the name of Candia, I am your's, my king, until you will have me no more._

Theobald thought he was going to be sick, and he whispered to himself, as a promise that would never break, not until the Hungry One devoured everything he was, and maybe not even then, "Lapin, for me and not any-fucking-one else, for you, and for me, I will avenge you. That carrot is going down."

Then they disappeared into the night, the vow Archmage Lazuli made him swear many years ago sitting heavy in his pocket. Theo knew exactly what he wanted.


End file.
